Spin My Love (My Love #1)(12)

It seems like I don’t know him anymore at all.

I get up and storm into my room, now fuming mad. He left. He left without caring what happened to me; what happened to anyone. I was in love with him, and he knew it. It doesn’t matter that we were young. He can’t expect that just because he’s back, everything can be as it was before.

It can’t.

And he said he’d be back for me.

I guess that was a lie.

*****

I watch as Parker and Justin play together on the playground. I laugh out loud when I see Parker gesture for an adorable little girl to go before him on the slide. Looks like he’s going to be a ladies' man.

“I’m going to take credit there for that little move.” Levi chuckles next to me.

“Oh? And why is that?” I ask.

“I spent yesterday explaining to him how a gentleman is supposed to treat a lady,” he says, looking extremely proud of himself.

“Is that right?” I drawl.

“He’s going to respect women,” Levi states.

“Of course he is. He’s being raised by me,” I boast.

“That he is. You ready?” he asks, and I can tell he’s impatient by the way he keeps bouncing on his toes. We are taking the boys to the beach, but they wanted to play on the playground first. Levi is eager to get into the water, but he didn’t want me to sit here by myself.

“Sure. Parker! Justin!” I call out. Parker snaps his head to me then walks over, grabbing Justin by his arm on the way.

“Let’s go swimming. Uncle Levi wants to see what you two can do on your new surfboards,” I say, trying to hide my grin. And my nerves. The boys cheer and run around on the sand whilst Levi carries their two boards. Levi is wearing nothing but a pair of low-slung, blue board-shorts. I notice that they are the same colour as his eyes.

“What are you thinking about Giselle?” he asks.

I’ve been staring.

“Nothing much.”

“Hmmmm,” he hums, obviously not convinced. I look out onto the water. There are only the slightest of waves, which is why Levi brought us to this beach. He wanted to show Parker and Justin the basics, as well as working on their swimming.

“Tane’s been asking about you a lot,” Levi suddenly says. Now it’s his turn to avoid eye contact.

“And?” I ask.

He clears his throat. “And I think he’s interested.”

When I’m silent, he turns his face to look at me. “Are you interested in him?”

“Levi …” I start.

“I know, I know. It’s not my business,” he grumbles, walking towards the water. I put my hand on his arm to stop him.

“You’re wrong; it is your business. You’ve always been there for me. And I know we’re blessed to have you in our lives. I don’t know what Tane wants, okay?” I tell him. His blue eyes, so much paler than my own, stare directly at me.

I don’t know what he wants or how I feel about it. I don’t know anything right now.

“Let’s teach these boys how to surf, shall we?” he says in a more upbeat tone. I appreciate the subject change more than he could know.

“I don’t surf,” I say, narrowing my eyes.

Levi gives me a belly laugh. “Don’t I know it. Come on, you can swim in the water, and look pretty,” he teases.

“Race you to the water!” I say, taking off my t-shirt and running quickly so I get a head-start. I call out to the boys to run with me, and I’m panting by the time I reach the edge. I hear a splash and know that Levi dove straight in. He stays under for an uncomfortable length of time, but I know not to worry. The man lives and breathes the water. He was probably a merman in another life. I take Parker and Justin’s hands and walk them in so they are up to their waists.

“Are we going in further?” I ask them, wanting to see if they were going to get their whole bodies wet.

“Yes!” Justin says enthusiastically.

“Ladies first,” Parker says with a grin, his pale-green eyes alight with mischief.

*****

The next day, I jump when a finger presses down gently on my back. The book I was holding goes crashing to the floor with a loud thud.

“What does this symbol mean?” comes a masculine voice in a deep baritone, his finger tracing my tattoo. I’m wearing a long-sleeved black off-the-shoulder top with tailored pants, one of my favourite outfits.

“What are you doing here, Tane?” I ask, picking up the book, maybe poking my ass out a little bit more than I need to, before turning around to face him.

“It’s a public library. I’m here to read,” he says, his grin showing off a dimple in his right cheek.

“Congratulations. The Dummies books are that way,” I say dryly, pointing across the room. Low blow, I know, but I can’t help it that this man makes me want to punch a wall. I resume stacking the books.

“I never pictured you for the Chinese symbol type. It seems a bit cliché; I figured you would get something more original,” he says, trying to get a rise out of me.

I sigh, and give in. “I got it with Ciara when we turned eighteen. To celebrate becoming legal. She and I got the same one.” Ciara is a friend of mine, another girl we went to school with. She moved away to Scotland last year.